Above: President Leonel Fernandez at the French-Dominican Business Forum (Photo: CIG)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Dominican Republic is in the process of shifting its economic model from one that is labour-intensive to one that is capital intensive, according to President Leonel Fernandez.

Fernandez, who was speaking at the French-Dominican Business Forum, said the legal framework implemented over the next two decades would redefine all sectors of national economic life.

The changes are coming from the country’s National Development Act and due to external factors, he said.

The country’s Free Zone sector, for example, long focused on the production of textiles, had been affected by the presence of cheap labour from China.

Now, the country has moved from a pure assembly system to a higher-value-added system, in a bid to revive the Free Zone sector, he said.

The country is looking to shift its tourism model, too, he said, expanding beyond sun, sea and sand to aquatic games, golf and ecological tourism.

The latter has been a push by a number of Caribbean countries, from Dominica to the island of Nevis.